Chapter Two: The Defence
Courtney walks into the courtroom at the same Duncan is escorted in by the bailiff, and they sit at their desk. Courtney shuffles some papers around while Duncan twiddles his thumbs nervously as he waits to be called to the stand. The jury and viewers enter and take their seats.
"All rise," the bailiff commands. Everybody stands as the judge enters and takes his seat. "You may be seated." Everyone returns to their seats and turns their attention to the judge.
"Court is in session," the judge announces, banging his gavel.
"Would the defendant please take to the stand," the bailiff requests. Duncan stands, and with a quick glance at Courtney he takes his place on the stand. Courtney nods in encouragement. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
"I do," Duncan swears.
"You may be seated," the bailiff informs him. Duncan sits.
"Mr Duncan Colleano, you have been accused for the murder of Mike Posey. You have pled not guilty. Miss Holland-Free, you may begin questioning the defendant." Courtney rises, taking her notes with her.
"Mr Colleano, did you know the victim personally?" she asks. Duncan leans in to the microphone.
"Yes," he replies.
"Would you care to elaborate?"
"I'd met him in juvy when I was fifteen, and again during Total Drama All-Stars five years ago," Duncan tells the jury.
"What were you doing on the night of the murder?" Courtney questions.
"I had gone to the bar to meet Mike because he owed me money."
"Why was it that he owed you money?"
"I ran into him a few months ago at a poker match," Duncan explains. "He kept saying 'one more round', but he was all out of cash. He thought he couldn't lose, but he did and I told him as long as he eventually gave me the money he owed me, he didn't have to cough up that night."
"And did Mike give you the money?" Courtney asks.
"Yeah, so after he did I went to the bathroom," Duncan says. "When I came back outside for a smoke he was already dead." Courtney smiles at Duncan in approval.
"No further questions, your honour," Courtney tells the judge.
"Mr Jones you may cross-examine the defendant," the judge tells the other lawyer.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I would like to begin by presenting you with a picture that a paparazzo took on the night of the murder of Mr Posey," Mr Jones announces. He turns on a projector which shines onto a white canvas. The picture shows Duncan pushing Mike against the wall threateningly. Duncan silently curses himself and Courtney puts her head in her hands in frustration. "Would you care to explain what's happening in this picture?" Duncan sighs.
"I'm threatening Mike to give me the money he owed me," he explains. Mr Jones smiles.
"Did you or did you not just say that you had gone to the bar because Mr Posey was going to give you the money he owed you?"
"Yeah, but I didn't think he had..."
"And yet here it appears that he doesn't have the money that you wanted," Mr Jones interrupts.
"He did, I just didn't know..."
"Furthermore, did anyone actually see you go to the bathroom at the time of Mr Posey's death?" Mr Jones asks, raising his voice to be heard over Duncan.
"No, but I didn't..." Duncan tries again.
"So you had the motive to do it, and conveniently, no one saw you go to the bathroom?"
"How is that convenient for me?" Duncan wonders, getting worried.
"Objection your honour!" Courtney yells, standing up.
"Overruled!" the judge replies, banging his gavel. Courtney sits back down, offended that her objection had been overruled.
"You were found standing over the body, holding the murder weapon which had no other fingerprints on it..." Mr Jones continues, as if Courtney hadn't interrupted.
"Of course it had my prints on it, it's my pocket knife!" Duncan shouts, but he immediately knows it was the wrong thing to say. Mr Jones smiles smugly at Duncan before turning to the judge.
"No further questions."
The security guard throws Duncan into the interview room and as soon as she's gone, Courtney starts ripping into him.
"That was the worst thing you could have said!" she scolds him. "It's winter, someone was probably wearing gloves, why didn't you just say that?"
"I'm not good at thinking on the spot," Duncan says defensively.
"And that picture? What were you thinking?" Courtney demands. "I asked you if there was anything you needed to tell me and you said no! It didn't occur to you that the fact that you threatened the victim minutes before he died might have been important?"
"I didn't think it would come up," Duncan replies. "How was I supposed to know someone was watching me?"
"You were on TV, Duncan!" Courtney reminds him angrily. "People are always watching you. This is a major setback. I'm going to have to prepare you to deal with more surprises like this, aren't I?"
"I don't think so," Duncan says. "I mean, I didn't do anything else."
"Are you absolutely positive?" Courtney asks forcefully. "If you can't be honest with me then this arrangement isn't going to work."
"I know!" Duncan snaps, tired of Courtney pressing him for answers. "There's nothing else."
"Okay. Well they probably aren't going to get you on the stand tomorrow anyway, so we'll have time to think about how we're going to respond," Courtney tells him. Duncan nods in understanding. She furrows her brow as she spreads out sheets of paper from the file. Duncan rests his head in his hand as he watches her. Courtney looks flustered and slightly worried. Duncan puts his hand over hers gently and she looks up at him in confusion as her heart does a little flip. What was that? she wonders angrily to herself.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," he assures her. She takes a deep breath in and nods. She shouldn't have needed to hear those words, but they brought comfort to her, especially since Duncan's voice was so calm. It was strange to hear it that way. Strange, but refreshing.
"I know," she tells him with a small smile. "We'll get you out of this." With the evidence at hand, neither of them believe that it will actually be possible to get Duncan out of it, but that didn't mean they had to say it out loud.